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RARE / INTERESTING STUFF.

I pretty much buy anything to do with the carpenters and buy a lot from japan. just wondering if anyone else has this fantastic book from 1996 I bought from over there a few weeks back?
nearly 200 pages and whilst I don`t understand a single word in it, because it`s in Japanese, this book is full on almost every page, of beautiful photos of the carpenters, many I`ve never seen before. it`s pretty big as well at 29cm x 21cm and high gloss!

so it got me wondering about every-ones collections, excluding vinyl etc, whats the most rare, or interesting item you have?

Well, let's see. I see the word "Carpenters" quite a bit - and I understand that. The word "Magazine" is on the front. And I see "The Compact Disc Collection" and "Ticket To Ride" and "Top Of The World" and "Hurting Each Other"...

That magazine is known in Carpenters' circles as "The Mook", a combining of Magazine and Book.

a treasure for your collection ! I don't have a copy myself but, do have it on a computer stick. I'd love to be able to read it. If i remember correctly, In one photo you can find an old 45 single, it's Karen's first one and not "Looking For Love" ! Apparently Richard will never release it because he says Karen would hate it if it was ever released.

The most interesting entry on that related thread is this one, translated from the Mook itself:

“When I was shown a record room in Richard's home, I noticed one unfamiliar recording disc placed near the single of Magic Lamp. The label said "We'll Be Together" and "Don't Tell Me". He said "That is what Karen recorded when she was 14. At that time, if you pay some — I do not remember how much — we could have a recording disc made”.

I have several interesting things including the set, boxes, for me everything is weird hahha but I think that this 45 vinyl with the cover that I bought recently gets a reward inside me, since the whole band comes out .. Regards

I have several interesting things including the set, boxes, for me everything is weird hahha but I think that this 45 vinyl with the cover that I bought recently gets a reward inside me, since the whole band comes out .. Regards

I thought the same, they would have received their vinyl pressing only and the tapes were probably wiped ready for the next customer. If only they knew.

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It's unlikely that the record was "pressed", and more likely that the grooves were cut directly into the vinyl. Pressing involves too many steps, and would have been prohibitively expensive for a one-off record for personal use. There used to be businesses that allowed anyone to make a record - ranging from real recording studios, to booths set up at local fairs. It was a real novelty, back before home tape recorders became affordable. My mom made a record as a birthday present for my dad, back in the late 1950s. The record was cut in real time, right from the mixing board onto the vinyl, no tape involved. If either she, or the musicians she brought along had goofed up, it would have meant starting over with a new vinyl blank, and an added fee.

It's unlikely that the record was "pressed", and more likely that the grooves were cut directly into the vinyl. Pressing involves too many steps, and would have been prohibitively expensive for a one-off record for personal use. There used to be businesses that allowed anyone to make a record - ranging from real recording studios, to booths set up at local fairs. It was a real novelty, back before home tape recorders became affordable. My mom made a record as a birthday present for my dad, back in the late 1950s. The record was cut in real time, right from the mixing board onto the vinyl, no tape involved. If either she, or the musicians she brought along had goofed up, it would have meant starting over with a new vinyl blank, and an added fee.

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Found this site on the internet that seems to go along with what you're referring to Murray;

This was certainly a thing for years. Check out the movie, The Big Store, from the 1930's, a Marx Brothers film. A singer in the store sings a song for a customer while the vinyl is cut. Custom one off record.

If you go further back to cylinder recordings, there was actually rerecordable tech available in the 1890's. Check out the UCSB sound archive. It's a fascinating rabbit hole of both commercial and personal recordings.

The record was cut in real time, right from the mixing board onto the vinyl, no tape involved. If either she, or the musicians she brought along had goofed up, it would have meant starting over with a new vinyl blank, and an added fee.

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Which would make this record even more rare. Knowing them, they got it in one take

I wonder what condition Richard's copy is in and when he played it last. I'm also assuming he had a digital transfer done at some point just for posterity.

I have several interesting things including the set, boxes, for me everything is weird hahha but I think that this 45 vinyl with the cover that I bought recently gets a reward inside me, since the whole band comes out .. Regards

It's unlikely that the record was "pressed", and more likely that the grooves were cut directly into the vinyl. Pressing involves too many steps, and would have been prohibitively expensive for a one-off record for personal use. There used to be businesses that allowed anyone to make a record - ranging from real recording studios, to booths set up at local fairs. It was a real novelty, back before home tape recorders became affordable. My mom made a record as a birthday present for my dad, back in the late 1950s. The record was cut in real time, right from the mixing board onto the vinyl, no tape involved. If either she, or the musicians she brought along had goofed up, it would have meant starting over with a new vinyl blank, and an added fee.

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Would those businesses have put typed printing on the labels, or aside from the recording company's logo, would everything else be hand-printed/written? From the picture it looks like Karen's name and the song titles are all typeset, not handwritten (or typed on a typewriter), unlike a few transcription discs that I've seen from the early days of radio.

Would those businesses have put typed printing on the labels, or aside from the recording company's logo, would everything else be hand-printed/written? From the picture it looks like Karen's name and the song titles are all typeset, not handwritten (or typed on a typewriter), unlike a few transcription discs that I've seen from the early days of radio.

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In the case of my mom's record, the recording studio's logo was printed on the upper label, and her name and song titles were typewritten on the lower label. The labels were then glued to each side of the disk.

I looked closely at the picture of Karen's record that Rick posted (from the Mook), and to my eyes, it looks like Karen's name and the song title were typed on a typewriter, as is the "45 RPM". The letters aren't even - some are higher than others, and some are darker than others. This would be consistent with an old-fashioned typewriter, with hammers and an ink ribbon.